For the eighth
year in a row we're opening up an entire section of our publication
(read by more animation decision-makers than any other) to 1/6th
page advertisements that pitch new ideas. For less than the cost of
a workshop on "breaking into the biz" you can get your great idea in
front of our major readers. [NOTE: This opportunity is only available
once a year. AND to help you out, we're offering these ads at a heavily
discounted price!]
PLUS! We've enlisted a panel of ten powerful development execs,
producers and agents to judge your entries. The Pitch Party winner will
receive a chance to pitch the judge of his or her choice. AND the winner
will receive FREE Pitch Party Participation.

 WHO'S JUDGING THIS THING?

We get some of the most powerful people in the industry to judge
the work of our Pitch Party Participants. Check back here everyday for
the next few weeks to see what doors you could open just by entering
our Pitch Party!

Meet Your Pitch Party 2009 Judges:

Marci Proietto
SVP of Animation Production and Development, Twentieth Century Fox TelevisionMarci Proietto has been with Twentieth Century Fox Television
since 1995 and oversees production on all of the studio’s animated
hits, including The Simpsons, Family Guy, King
of the Hill, American Dad, Futurama and The
Cleveland Show. As Senior Vice President of Animation Production
and Development, she works closely with each show’s team of writers
and production staff as well as creators Matt Groening, Seth MacFarlane
and Mike Judge. She is also charged with identifying burgeoning animation
talent and developing future series to add to the studio's roster of
blockbuster properties.

Eric Coleman
Senior VP, Original Series, Walt Disney Television Animation
As senior VP of original series at Walt Disney TV Animation, Eric is
responsible for leading Disney's animated television development including
short-form and long-form series for Disney Channel, Toon Disney and
Jetix platforms, which are available to over 219 million homes worldwide.
Previously, he spent 15 years at Nickelodeon, where he most recently
served as VP and exec producer of animation development and production
and was the exec in charge of production on the iconic SpongeBob
SquarePants, among others. Eric began his career at Nickelodeon
in New York, where he worked on the first wave of original Nicktoons,
Rugrats, Ren & Stimpy and Doug. He then
moved to Los Angeles and, as manager of development, worked on many
animated pilots, including Rocko's Modern Life, Hey Arnold!
and Angry Beavers. He was also the development exec on the
pilot and exec in charge of production for SpongeBob SquarePants.
In recent years, Coleman served as exec producer on Avatar,
Catscratch and El Tigre, and was the exec in charge
of production on Invader Zim.

Erik Koland
Head of Content Acquisition and Programming, Vuze
Erik leads animation acquisition and programming at Vuze, a leading
online video portal. Erik’s core focus is short-form animation
geared at men 18-35. He has been acquiring animation for digital distribution
for the last three years and has licensed original programming from
studios of all sizes as well as individual animators. Prior to joining
Vuze, he led animation acquisition at Akimbo, an IPTV platform.

Orion Ross
Vice President Original Series,
Disney Channels & Jetix
Orion Ross joined Jetix Europe in July 2008, and was appointed to the
position of Vice President Original Series, Disney Channels and Jetix,
in May 2009. He is responsible for the creative development of new
animation and original series properties from concept to production.
Before moving to London, Orion was based in Hong Kong as Vice
President, Creative and Original Content, for Turner Broadcasting Asia
Pacific. Since 2001 he supervised the creative strategy for Turner's
entertainment networks across the region including eight Cartoon
Network channels, Boomerang, Pogo and TCM. He has also written for film
and television and directed broadcast design, music video and commercial
projects.

Curtis Lelash
Director, Comedy Animation, Cartoon Network
Curtis joined the Original Series department at Cartoon Network in Atlanta
in 2005, and has recently relocated to Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank
as director of comedy animation. Currently his goal is to seek out the
best comedic voices and projects for the network as well as his continuing
work on current series. Previously he worked in development at DreamWorks
Animation and Storyopolis Productions.

Kim Manning
Director of Programming and Acquisitions for Adult Swim
Kim joined Cartoon Network in 2002, soon after the launch of Adult Swim.
She heads up the programming department in addition to scheduling stunts,
premieres, specials and creating the lineup for the popular late-night
programming block. She helped develop Robot Chicken, The
Venture Brothers, The Drinky Crow Show and Tom Goes
to the Mayor. Manning acquires shows for Adult Swim—anime
(Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist, Death Note)
and more recently British Comedy (Mighty Boosh, Look Around
You, The Office).

Tina Santomauro
Acquisitions Manager, Atom.com
Tina Santomauro is acquisitions manager for ATOM.com, based out of the
company’s New York office. Tina joined ATOM in June of 2007. Her
key responsibilities are to license and develop high-performance programming
that best fits with the ATOM brand, focusing on live action and animated
comedy short films and web series. She is also the exec producer of
Atom TV, weekly late-night show that airs on Comedy Central.
She previously worked for Comedy Central in the programming acquisitions
department for five years, licensing feature length films and stand
up specials for the channel and short programming for comedycentral.com.

Eric Homan
VP of Development, Frederator
Eric Homan began the 1990s first teaching high school English and then
reporting news for a string of radio stations in and around his hometown
of Reading, Pennsylvania. In 1992, he joined Hanna-Barbera Cartoons
in Hollywood and later became the creative director of its animation
art department. When the cartoon company was folded into the Time-Warner
family in late 1996, he was hired by Warner Bros. Studio Stores to continue
overseeing the production of Hanna-Barbera artwork and collectibles.
In 1998, Homan became the first employee of Frederator Studios. Following
a brief stint developing special projects for the online division of
MTV Networks in New York City, he is back in Los Angeles and back with
Frederator, serving as the studio's vice president of development, managing
the creative affairs of the studio's new cartoon and book projects.

Melissa Wolfe
Director of Development, Cookie Jar Entertainment
Melissa Wolfe is the director of development for Cookie Jar Entertainment
where she focuses on the creative development of Cookie Jar’s
diverse slate of animated and live-action properties ranging from preschool
all the way to primetime genres. Prior to joining Cookie Jar, she was
a development executive for Fred Seibert at Frederator Studios, helping
to develop 39 animated seven-minute pilot shorts for Nickelodeon’s
Random Cartoons. At Frederator she also co-created and produced
one of her own shorts for Nickelodeon called Sparkles and Gloom,
associate produced two seasons of the Nicktoons Network Animation
Festival and played an integral role in programming the first 90
episodes of the Channel Frederator podcast.

Natalie Altmann,
Head of Children’s Programming, M6 France
Natalie Altmann joined M6 in 1997 where she heads the children’s
programs department (M6 Kid). Amongst other responsibilities, she overseas
co-productions and acquisitions of animated series, as well as the production
of the in-house programs broadcast within the children’s slots.
Since May 2003, she is also the executive in charge of M6 Studio, a
M6 subsidiary production company, specialized in animated feature films
and series. As such she produced the animated feature film Asterix
and the Vikings, released in France in 2006. She is currently producing
the animated series Little Nick, adapted from the series of
books Le Petit Nicolas by Goscinny and Sempé. Before
joining M6, Natalie Altmann was head of development at Saban International
Paris, where she supervised, from 1992 to 1997, the development and
writing of numerous animated series for the French, European and international
markets.  AND
WHAT DO I WIN?

For one thing, a whole lot of print and online coverage! Not only
do you get a 1/6th page ad in our print edition, if you're
a winner, you'll get additional editorial coverage, a chance to pitch
your idea to the judge of your choice and the cost of your entry reimbursed.
BUT, WAIT! There's more (here's a big list of everything you
could get just by entering).

1/6th page in
the August edition of Animation Magazine, distributed to
readers in over 100 countries with bonus distribution at the San
Diego Comic-Con.

A high-powered panel of
development execs and producers will personally evaluate your pitch.

If you win, you get to pitch
your idea to the Judge of your choice. Plus! You'll get editorial
coverage in our August edition.

If you win, you get FREE
Pitch Party Participation.

If you come in second or
third, you'll get editorial coverage in our August edition. Additional
prizes include a copy of the software suite Toon Boom Animate (a
value of $999.99), a selection of animation books from The Animated
Cartoon Factory, copies of Chronicle Books’ The Art of
Up by Tim Hauser, and a copy of the 2D software title Digicel
Flipbook Studio (for Mac or PC).

We also run a STAFF PICKS
contest. So if our staff picks you, they'll write about why you
won in our August edition.

Finally, we run an ONLINE
READERS' POLL using your 1/6th page ad. So for one week
your ad will be online and oggled by more than 100,000 unique
visitors. AND! You guessed it! We also write about the winners
of the online poll in our August edition. (Don't worry, we monitor
our ONLINE READERS' POLL carefully. No reader can vote more than
one time!) The Online Readers' Poll begins on or about June 15.

 HOW DO I ENTER?1) Call 818-991-2884 or e-mail [email protected]
to reserve your entry space. One of our great sales execs will contact
you immediately. Entry Deadline is June 10, 2009. What you'll need to
provide via e-mail: a JPEG or TIFF image from your pitch, a 30-word
description of your pitch and your contact information. The entry fee
is $375.Ask about our special student discounts.

 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How Do I Protect My Idea? Well, the easiest answer is "by entering
the Pitch Party." If you're pitching your idea in our magazine then
your idea has appeared in print with your name attached; your idea is
no longer floating around out in the ether for anyone to pick up. To
further protect yourself though, we suggest registering your idea with
the Writers Guild. Go to www.wga.org
for more info.

WHAT KIND OF STUFF CAN I ENTER?
Anything! As long as your idea has the potential to be animated, you
can enter a television series, movie, game, whatever! Be forewarned,
however, our judges are strictly from the movie and TV arena.

WHEN DO YOU ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS?
As soon as our August issue hits the newsstands, around July 1. We will
also be hyping our winners online during the week of the San Diego Comic-Con,
July 24-27 (www.comic-con.org).

WHAT SHOULD I ENTER?
Basically an idea that's different; something our judges haven't seen
before. Most development folks want a show that is "character-driven"
or "kid-relate-able." In artist-speak that just means they're looking
for a show that has a strong character at the center of the action and,
if it's a TV show, a character that kids can latch onto. Remember to
pick a really strong image for your entry, one that describes your show
or its main character in a striking visual manner. Concerning your 30-word
description, all we can say is re-write, re-write, re-write. Don't just
give us the first thing that trips off your fingertips onto the keyboard
and into Microsoft word. Work it! Then read it to your friends. They'll
tell you if they get it or not. (And, we know this sounds dumb, but
run a spell check.)

 LEGAL STUFF

Animation Magazine is not responsible or liable for
ensuring the images used in Pitch Party Participant advertisements are
the property of the advertisers/participants.